Employees Are Like Coat Hangers.

Coat hangers can be used to open a locked car, roast marshmallows or hang a coat.  Many of us, in the course of coat hanger gadgetry, have bent the hanger back and forth until it breaks.  This is an example in metal fatigue and brings us to our first diagram (no business blog would be complete without a diagram!).

My former students will recognize this diagram that was used to explain the torque-to-yield bolts used in modern engine assemblies.  The X axis shows the how much a bolt grows in length as tension force is applied to the bolt.  Any torque value in the elastic range resulted in the bolt returning to its original length upon disassembly.  On your grandpa’s Chevy, engine bolts were tightened to a specific torque in the elastic range and he was off to the races.  The optimum elastic torque was right before the yield point.  The downfall here was that any small variation in the tension force applied (dirty threads, faulty torque wrench, distraction from grandma, etc.) had a big effect on the assembly.

Along came the modern engine with torque-to-yield bolts.  These assemblies took single-use bolts into the plastic range.  In this range, the bolt grows considerably in length without changing the clamping force.  It also allows the assembly to attain maximum strength in spite of minor variations in assembly.  Once you go beyond the maximum strength of the bolt, it degrades and fails – just like the hanger.

Most MBA’s and marketing experts out there find the torque-to-yield diagram familiar, but they can’t quite bring it home.  Here is the more technical and complete version along with the graph you are thinking of:

I will leave you to ponder all of the parallels between metal strength/fatigue and the product life cycle.  This progression of birth, growth, maturity and decline has been applied to businesses, biology and many other fields.  You will not, however, find it in the human resources field.

HR prefers a circle when graphing employee growth, engagement and progression – “an iterative [sic] process” – so they say.  Unfortunately, many employees experience their tenure as an iterative treadmill.  I suggest that HR should look more closely at the torque-to-yield curve in its dealings with employees.  Often the employer and employee don’t realize they are actually on the torque-to-yield curve until fatigue and failure occur.

When a new employee joins a firm, they experience growth by honing their existing skills to fit their new position as well as developing the new skills needed to succeed in that position.  As we know from other fields, growth cannot continue indefinitely.  Businesses that continuously grow eventually run out of cash.  Products with flat sales require a re-design to extend the product.  The body requires periods of rest along the growth cycle.

Employers need to consider this when managing their workforce.  I recently saw an employee evaluation where an employee competently completing his/her tasks and responsibilities would receive a 3 out of 5.  To score higher would require going above and beyond the parameters of one’s job.  This same employer incrementally increases the employees’ performance goals each year.  As with the torque-to-yield curve, there is a point where performance falls off and fatigue and failure occur.

HR professionals often focus on recruitment and retention.  They seek to find the right person for the right position.  They want to extend the employee life cycle.  I sat in on a strategic planning meet once when recruitment and retention were mentioned.  One of the action plan items was to utilize the information in the exit interviews to make things better. 

*Blog Interaction Activity*

Help me quantify this idea by placing your finger on the torque-to-yield diagram where the exit interview takes place.  Now take your other finger(s) and place it (them) on the spot(s) where you think one-on-one personal conversations with employees should take place.

Employers should reflect on how much they personally communicate with their employees.

Employers use online hiring services to weed out unqualified candidates, use some type of personality or behavioral assessment to discover team dynamics and performance, evaluate performance via computer-based reporting systems, production metrics and canned evaluation forms, and communicate primarily through electronic means for daily operations.  Then, once fatigue and breakage occur, the employer conducts an in-person exit interview.

Employees are like coat hangers.  A manager that pushes continual growth without personally engineering an extension will experience reduced productivity, employee fatigue and eventual breakage.